Portuguese champions left reeling by German outfit
Benfica had no answer to Bayer Leverkusen's aggressive, high-pressing gameplan tonight, falling to a 3-1 defeat that could have been a lot worse.
Strikes from Kiessling and Son gave the hosts a comfortable two-goal cushion after an embarrassingly one-sided half in which the Germans had 14 attempts at goal compared to two from Benfica.
A fine Salvio goal on the hour mark briefly gave the Eagles hope of an unlikely point, but a dubious penalty awarded against Jardel and converted by Calhanoglu immediately afterwards snuffed out those hopes.
Jorge Jesus has insisted that winning a back-to-back domestic championship is the priority, and Lima and Maxi began the game on the bench, with Derley the lone striker and Cristante and André Almeida getting rare starts.
Whatever the coach's idea was, it backfired badly as the Germans ran riot in the opening 45 minutes, completely overwhelming Benfica with their energetic pressing and feisty tackling, the Primeira Liga leaders barely managing to get out of their own half.
Júlio César did not help matters when he spilled a shot from Son he should have held, allowing Kiessling to put the hosts ahead in the 25th minute. By that time the Germans had already peppered the Benfica goal, including one deflected shot that came back off the post.
Impressive South Korean Son doubled the lead shortly afterwards following another swift move that cut open the Benfica defence.
As the half-time whistle went, the only positive for Benfica was that they were only two goals down, and Jorge Jesus brought on Maxi and Lima at the break.
Incredible miss
There was no discernible change initially, and the Eagles had an incredible let-off on 50 minutes when Calhanoglu comically missed an open goal from one yard out.
And ten minutes later when a good move worked the ball to Salvio, who cut inside and fired a fine low shot into the corner, it appeared the game was wide open again. However, Jardel was then adjudged to have brought down Kiessling by the linesman and Calhanoglu made up for his miss by tucking away the spot kick.
Truth be told, it put a semblance of justice on the scoreline.
Having lost two games out of two in Group C, unless positive results are forthcoming in the double-header against Monaco, it is looking like another disappointing Champions League campaign for Jorge Jesus' men.
Bayer Leverkusen:
Leno, Spahic, Hilbert, Wendell, Toprak, Reinartz, Bender, Çalhanoglu, Bellarabi, Son Heung-Min, Kiessling
Benfica:
Júlio César, André Almeida, Luisão, Jardel, Eliseu, Cristante (Maxi Pereira, 46’), Enzo Perez (Samaris, 76’), Gaitán, Salvio, Talisca (Lima, 46’), Derley
Goals:
[1-0] Kiessling, 25'
[2-0] Son, 36'
[2-1] Salvio, 61'
[3-1] Calhanoglu, 64'
